Whittingham – no way back for Nugent

The Dave Nugent highly probable loan move to Ipswich is not really something that I wanted to cover again – in article format anyway – until it happened, but after reading comments from the legendary ‘corporal punishment’ Guy Whittingham in The News I could not help myself…

As much as I have hoped that Nugent would cut it with Pompey, and be given the extended run that I personally feel he needed to be fully judged – which in my thinking no matter what anyone tells me he has not been given – the fact that he is being ‘loaned out’ does almost certainly effectively signal the end to his Pompey career.

As Whittingham has said, by allowing him to go out on loan and with no recall option – which we have allowed, and by doing so have got more money as a result, something again which personally I feel outlines we are short, but that is for another day – when you take into account that we will be left thread bare, particularly where the cup is concerned if Kanu and/or Milan Baros are injured this effectively confirms that he has no future with Pompey if we are willing to take this risk: ‘it may cause problems for Pompey in the cups if Kanu or Milan Baros are injured.

‘But I’m sure it’s something the manager will have weighed up.

‘And if that’s the case you would have to say it’s the beginning of the end for the lad.

‘I remember being loaned out by Villa to Wolves. At Sheffield Wednesday I was loaned out to Wolves and Watford and at Pompey I was loaned out to Peterborough and Oxford.

‘Each time it signalled the end of me at that particular club.

‘Unless you are a very young player looking for experience, if you are loaned out usually the writing is on the wall in terms of your time at that club.

‘If a manager is willing to let you go it’s not good.

‘In this case, Harry is prepared to let Nugent go for the rest of the season with no option to bring him back.

‘It doesn’t take a genius to see the situation.

‘It’s pretty clear the lad is not part of his plans and he is quite prepared to do without him.

‘I can’t see anyway back from this. I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am’.

I think Whittingham makes a lot of sense, and find it hard to see him being wrong…

I just pray that this move is not one that is basically ‘admitting defeat’ in the bid to win the FA cup – with us prepared to ‘focus’ purely on the league – in many ways ‘accepting’ that we will be beaten by United?

Something which this ‘could’ now give us the chance to see is just how effective John Utaka could be through the middle, there have been many calls for him to be given a start up front as opposed to on the wing, he has often said himself he wanted this but Harry Redknapp has always said he was signed as a winger, but his tune has now changed to justify Nugent going…